AT HOME with the world’s number one villain is not what you would expect.

Hugh Keays-Byrne is making a banana smoothie – with a touch of Ovaltine – in his Lisarow kitchen and hobbling quite badly due to a hip problem.

More than 37 years after he won worldwide acclaim and a massive cult following playing the villain Toecutter in George Miller’s first Mad Max, Keays-Byrne is doing it all over again starring as Immortan Joe in the latest Mad Max instalment Mad Max: Fury Road.

Just weeks ago he was walking the red carpet at the LA premiere with co-stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and Megan Gale.

It was the highest grossing movie on the planet during its opening week taking $US109.4 million and hit number one in Australia where it took more than $6 million on its opening weekend.

So that makes Keays-Byrne the world’s number one baddie and as far as baddies go, the Shakespearean-trained, Indian-born and English-raised actor is pretty good.

“Immortan Joe is different – he’s a bigger villain than Toecutter,” Keays-Byrne said.

“Toecutter didn’t have the empire this fella has.

“I loved it, I loved all the cast, all the boys.”

The movie took the best part of four years to make including a six-month shoot in Namibia on the west coast of Africa.

“That was hard for some, but not for me. I was being looked after even when we weren’t filming.

“The cast and crew couldn’t believe I was still alive 37 years later – the movie was made before most of them were even born.”

Now 68 and sporting a man bun, Keays-Byrne has lived happily on five lush acres hidden in the valleys of Lisarow with his wife Christina for almost 21 years.

“It’s a gift and it’s wonderful to have,” he says of his sprawling house and garden.He recently signed a contract with Warner Bros to star in two more Mad Max prequels.

Although signing is no guarantee the movies will be made, it’s highly likely he would play a villain if writer and director Miller has anything to do with it.

“He loves me, we are in love,” Keays-Byrne declares.

Australia fans might also remember him playing Toad in the cult 1974 Australian bikie film Stone.

“That was probably the start of my career playing the baddie,” he says.

He still gets a kick out of being recognised at the local shops.

“Sometimes they will just come up and say hello or say a line out of the movie,” he said,

“I feel good about that but I think how do they recognise me 37 years later.”

Both he and Christina, who is also in the film business, enjoyed this experience the most.

“This was one was easier that most because it was such a blast,” Christina said.